Chat Bubbles

[Menoeloe]

I think many users would appreciate chat bubbles in-game as a setting. They're a staple in many other MMOs yet they are missing in this one. The lack of chat bubbles sucks some players out of the game and who they're chatting with. An option in menu would satisfy both kinds of users. Those that don't want them and those that do.

[SteveTheCynic]

I think many users would appreciate chat bubbles in-game as a setting. They're a staple in many other MMOs yet they are missing in this one. The lack of chat bubbles sucks some players out of the game and who they're chatting with. An option in menu would satisfy both kinds of users. Those that don't want them and those that do.

It's wildly inaccurate to say that an option would *satisfy* the people who don't want chat bubbles. At best, it would eliminate the annoyance of having the feature forced on them. (Disclaimer: I don't care one way or the other about the feature itself, although I can think of lots of better things for them to work on.)

 

And this has been discussed at length and endlessly on these forums. It's very, very unlikely to happen because when they tried to add it during the late alpha / early beta testing phases way back when, they discovered that it performed very badly, so they turned it off.

[DarkEcIipse]

It's wildly inaccurate to say that an option would *satisfy* the people who don't want chat bubbles. At best, it would eliminate the annoyance of having the feature forced on them. (Disclaimer: I don't care one way or the other about the feature itself, although I can think of lots of better things for them to work on.)

 

And this has been discussed at length and endlessly on these forums. It's very, very unlikely to happen because when they tried to add it during the late alpha / early beta testing phases way back when, they discovered that it performed very badly, so they turned it off.

 

Well that is Bioware's fault then isn't it? They used heavily modified alpha version of the Hero Engine that wasn't even a finished version that other developers are currently using.

 

It probably went something like this "Only 20% of the hero engine is ready? Oh it is still in alpha? Don't worry, we have programmers too!"

 

It was a demonstration. It was never meant to be offered as finished working build, instead it was supposed to show the power of their tools. The funny thing is the developers of the engine cut all ties with Bioware even going so far as to make disclaimer that their completed and overhauled engine isn't the same one that SWTOR is using on their own site.

 

Let just make one thing crystal clear. Chat bubbles are not hard to implement. They've been used in MMOs for DECADES. Just because Bioware are incompetent and messed up their own game engine isn't because it's somehow impossibly difficult.

 

You know how bad they are when they say things like the ability of having player characters to sit on chairs is beyond their game's capability... sitting on a *********** chair.... in a MMO is hard for them to implement? Really? Bioware Really? Other half-*** stories like "We lost the code"... You lost your game's code? How are they even in business. Oh right! Cartel Market! Ofc...

 

They can't even add additional cosmetics to their character creator properly... Green *********** hair. Oh and the excuse for that and not correcting it is: "It has become a valued feature to other players now and because it was paid item to change it would displease large audience of players that have become accustomed to the current look". Guess you could say the same about your bugs? Am I right Bioware! No need to fix it. It is a feature....

 

Lastly to add new cosmetic to characters has become so impossible for their current developer team. Yep you heard me right. You want Twi'lek/Zabrak cosmetics? Tough luck for you.

 

It amazing how 16 year old rust bucket Star Wars MMO like Star Wars Galaxies managed to do with their engine. Yet Bioware can't even do the bare essentials except from voiced over cut scenes that last 15 minutes. It proves only one thing. Bioware should have stuck with their single player games and left it at that.

 

Don't forget Ilum either or why highest res in game was removed from the setting window. Can't possibly be the poorly optimised garbage engine they took from another studio that told them it wasn't ready... <whistles> Guess that is what happens when you have nobody left from the original Swtor team with the expertise necessary to make major fundamental changes to their game or it's database. That is why asking simple things like new cosmetics for current races like Twi'leks is like asking for the Holy Grail...

[SteveTheCynic]

Well that is Bioware's fault then isn't it?

Yes. I'm not trying to suggest that it isn't.

 

But ultimately, it doesn't matter whose fault it is, not now, in a discussion of whether it's remotely likely to be changed. The fact that it is BioWare's fault doesn't make it easier - or harder - to change. Only the code matters for that purpose, and the code is, as is widely acknowledged(1), a mess.

 

Arguing about whose fault it was that a decision was made eight or nine or ten years ago, during a discussion about whether it is feasible to change the results of that discussion, seems to me to be of less than no value at all.

 

(1) Even the BioWare crew acknowledges that.

[DarkEcIipse]

Yes. I'm not trying to suggest that it isn't.

 

But ultimately, it doesn't matter whose fault it is, not now, in a discussion of whether it's remotely likely to be changed. The fact that it is BioWare's fault doesn't make it easier - or harder - to change. Only the code matters for that purpose, and the code is, as is widely acknowledged(1), a mess.

 

Arguing about whose fault it was that a decision was made eight or nine or ten years ago, during a discussion about whether it is feasible to change the results of that discussion, seems to me to be of less than no value at all.

 

(1) Even the BioWare crew acknowledges that.

 

I am sure it is feasible to change now but they choose not revisit it. That is fine with me. I am sure whatever more 'important' thing others want will get the same amount of input and attention as anything else here on Tor. Which is to say is nil.

 

Like Watto would say. "We'll let fate decide, eh?" Sure Bioware would approve of that. I know how much they like their RNG.